Deputy President William Ruto hosted NTV staffers, among them Ken Mijungu, for an interview at his official residence in Karen on January 23, 2020.
Millions of Kenyans were tuned in to watch the highly anticipated interview which was arguably Mijungu's magnum opus.
Before the recent interview, Kenyans had watched Ruto be put to the test in many past TV appearances by among others, K24 TV's Anne Kiguta and former Citizen TV star Hussein Mohamed. The bar had been set.
Of all journalists who had a sit down with the deputy president, only one of them came to people's minds as Mijungu fired questions at Ruto.
Midway into the discussion Hussein's name started trending on Twitter, with people reminiscing how he would engage the DP in past interviews.
Many compared Mijungu to the former Citizen TV anchor, who was known for cornering his subjects.
"Hussein Mohamed was the only journalist who used to bully deputy president," Pius Mwenda commented.
"Ken Mijungu did a good job, but what he didn't know is that DP Ruto has mazoea ya kujiuliza na kujijibu maswali yake mwenywe (ask and answer his own questions). He assumes you wanted to ask your question in a certain way, a nonsense Hussein Mohamed did not entertain. He would always tell him not to digress," Charles Mwabili noted.
"Ken Mijungu tried his best. He actually did fairly well. Handling Ruto is not a walk in the park. Even Hussein Mohammed at his best still struggled. Give ken credit," Kiplimo defended.
"Whenever William Ruto was hosted by Hussein Mohamed am sure he was sweating," Mithamo stated.
During the interview, the NTV anchor encountered a few unexpected answers from the DP.
In one instance, Mijungu sought to find out Ruto's wealth but the DP did not give an answer. He, instead, posed a question to Mijungu.
"Ken, surely, why is this issue of wealth a very big issue when you are interviewing William Ruto? You never ask anyone else," he remarked.
In yet another instance, Mijungu had to withdraw a statement he had made after the DP stated that he did not take it lightly.
Mijungu stated; "You are using inspection projects around the country to campaign because your surrogates will talk about 2022.
"I take a lot of exception to surrogates, so please, let's use the right language," Ruto stated as Mijungu withdrew his statement.
When Mijungu sought to find out if the DP supported the handshake or not, Ruto did not give a concrete answer, rather, he also asked the journalist a question.
"Why are you asking a rhetorical question?" he questioned.
